Arctic Chill

Baker & TaylorThe brutal murder of a young boy forces Erlendur of the Reykjavik police force to investigate simmering tensions beneath the surface of Icelandic society and confront a tragedy from his own past.

McMillan Palgrave

In this new extraordinary thriller from Gold Dagger Award winner Arnaldur Indridason, the Reykjavik police are called on an icy January day to a garden where a body has been found: a young, dark-skinned boy is frozen to the ground in a pool of his own blood. Erlendur and his team embark on their investigation and soon unearth tensions simmering beneath the surface of Iceland’s outwardly liberal, multicultural society. Meanwhile, the boy’s murder forces Erlendur to confront the tragedy in his own past. Soon, facts are emerging from the snow-filled darkness that are more chilling even than the Arctic night.

Baker & TaylorOn an icy January day, the Reykjavik police are called to a block of flats where a body has been found in the garden: a young, dark-skinned boy, frozen to the ground in a pool of his own blood. The discovery of a stab wound in his stomach extinguishes any hope that this was a tragic accident. Erlendur and his team embark on their investigation with little to go on but the news that the boy's Thai half-brother is missing. Is he implicated, or simply afraid for his own life? The investigation soon unearthstensions simmering beneath the surface of Iceland's outwardly liberal, multicultural society. The boy's murder forces Erlendur to confront a tragedy in his own past. Soon, facts are emerging from the snow-filled darkness that are more chilling even than the Arctic night.The brutal murder of a young boy forces Erlendur of the Reykjavik police force to investigate simmering tensions beneath the surface of Icelandic society and confront a tragedy from his own past. By the Gold Dagger-winning author of Jar City. 35,000 first printing.

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In this novel Indridason tackles the prickly subject of racism and immigration in Iceland but also the dreadfully cruel and pitiless behavior of teens who lack role models and proper moral education. This dark thriller is a compelling page turner because the events are somehow linked to the main protagonist ‘s (Inspector Erlendur) lonely and tragic life which intensifies the reader’s interest.

This book is number 7 in the Erlandur series and after 7 tries, the author finally has got the right mix of murder investigation and discourses on the private lives of the on-going police characters; both parts are good, the story is suitably complex and the private lives parts of the book are usually just the right length and only occasionally too long; and there’s a lot of Icelandic atmosphere without the book’s being cluttered with endless recitation of street names and other transparent literary devices

A good whodunnit set in Iceland, which makes this book fascinating in and of itself. I found the aspects that spoke of Icelanders dealing with immigrants enlightening, both from the notion of how one incorporates foreigners into one's culture, but also because these moments in the book provide a greater insight into Iceland culture.
However, I think the translation is rather dull or weak, and probably misses the quality of writing that might be in the original. Oh, to be able to read Icelandic.